Tennis Elbow vs. Golfer's Elbow: How to Tell Which You Have, and How to Heal
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Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow are two common overuse injuries that affect the elbow joint. They have a lot of similarities, but because they affect different tendons, your treatment will differ a bit.
Learn the similarities and differences between Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow) and Medial Epicondylitis (Golfer's Elbow), take an easy test to see which is causing your forearm pain, and understand the nuances of treating each condition.
Both Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow are forms of tendinopathy. They’re both repetitive stress injuries, caused when the amount of use and stress exceeds the capacity of key tendons. In both conditions, microtears and inflammation, and scar tissue develop in the tendons that anchor the forearm muscles to the elbow, leading to pain in the forearm and reduction in your grip strength.
The primary cause of both conditions is repetitive motion or overuse of the forearm muscles. Though they both have sport-related names, playing tennis or golf isn’t the only cause.
Any repetitive activities, such as typing, painting, carpentry, and, yes, sports, can result in excessive strain on the muscles and tendons in your forearm, leading to Golfer’s Elbow or Tennis Elbow. Improper technique, poor equipment, or weak supporting muscles also contribute.
Common symptoms include pain and tenderness around the elbow, stiffness, and weakness in the wrist or hand. In both cases, the pain often worsens with gripping or lifting motions, especially when the arm is extended. Both conditions usually start mild, and get worse over time without proactive treatment.
Risk factors are also similar, including repetitive arm movements, poor ergonomics, age (between 30 and 50), smoking, obesity, and a history of similar injuries.
Occupations involving physical labor or computer use, as well as recreational activities with repeated arm motion, like pickleball, gardening, or painting, increase your risk of developing these conditions.
Many people have risk factors in both of these areas. For example, Crystal, who participated in the user testing of our Tennis Elbow System, developed her condition from her work as an IT professional, as well as her hobby of sword fighting. (Watch the video for her story!)
Luckily, both Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow can be easily self-diagnosed through specific tests. Maudsley’s Test is an effective Tennis Elbow test you can do yourself. For Golfer’s Elbow, Reverse Cozen’s Test is one often used by doctors and physical therapists, though there are several others.
We've created a 2-minute quiz to tell if you have Tennis Elbow or Golfer's Elbow. Take it below!
Because both conditions share essentially the same cause, physical therapy treatments are also similar. There are differences to address the different tendons affected, but the underlying principles are the same.
Scroll down for specific treatments for Golfer’s Elbow vs. Tennis Elbow!
The key difference between the two lies in the tendons affected:
Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis) affects the tendon on the outside of the elbow that extends the wrist and fingers. It’s called Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis, or ECRB tendon.
Golfer’s Elbow (Medial Epicondylitis) affects the tendons on the inside of the elbow that flex the wrist and fingers, including Pronator Teres, Flexor Carpi Radialis, Palmaris Longus, Flexor Digitorum Superficialis, and Flexor Carpi Ulnaris.
Pain location is another major difference between Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow.
Tennis Elbow pain is felt on the outer (lateral) part of the elbow. It’s often worse when extending the wrist or gripping objects with an extended arm.
Golfer’s Elbow pain is on the inner (medial) part of the elbow and worsens when flexing the wrist or lifting objects palm-up.
For both Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow, physical therapy is the gold standard of non-invasive treatment to relieve pain and prevent recurrences. Many of the steps can be replicated at home, using Alleviate’s purpose-built treatment kits like the Tennis Elbow System.
Avoid or modify activities that trigger symptoms to give the aggravated tissue some space to start healing. This may mean changing your grip, using more ergonomic tools, or temporarily stopping the activity causing strain.
You can use icing and pain medications like NSAIDs to relieve pain, especially if you can’t avoid some of the activities that trigger pain.
Physical therapists use specific taping techniques to reduce the load that goes through the affected tendons. The technique for Tennis Elbow taping (called Mulligan’s Taping), is deceptively simple, with a single strip of tape.
However, this method can also change the direction of the load, so that the aggravated tendon isn’t exposed to the same repetitive stress as you go about your day.
Taping your elbow yourself is a little tricky, but wearing the right brace the right way, you can easily replicate the therapeutic benefits of a professional tape job. The same goes for Golfer’s Elbow - with an effective elbow brace, you can reduce the load, relieve pain, and stay active while you heal.
Targeted exercises help rebuild strength in not just the injured tendons themselves, but also the surrounding muscles and tendons that work together when you use your arm, wrist and hand.
Some of the PT exercises for Tennis Elbow are slightly different from those for Golfer’s Elbow, because the affected tendons are different, but there’s a significant amount of overlap that builds strength and stability throughout your kinetic chain.
For golfer’s elbow, wrist flexor stretches and eccentric wrist flexor strengthening can be effective.
You can find Golfer's Elbow and Tennis Elbow exercises online, but for clarity and best results, it's best to follow a structured program with guidance, like our at-home PT exercise programs.
Physical therapists use a technique called IASTM (Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization) to treat Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow. This massage technique, which you can replicate at home using a purpose-built forearm massager, has multiple benefits:
Releases tension, relieves pain, and improves range of motion
Breaks down scar tissue that causes pain
Promotes blood flow and facilitates the growth of healthier, stronger tissue
Tennis Elbow is more common than Golfer’s Elbow. It’s the most common cause of elbow pain, affecting 1-3% of people in the United States every year. Golfer’s Elbow, accounting for 10-20% of elbow pain, affects much fewer people , estimated by one study at around 0.4%.
Unfortunately, yes. These two forearm pain conditions aren’t mutually exclusive, and if your professional or leisure activities involve heavy use of both tendons, you can develop both Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow at the same time.
Playing golf with incorrect form (or simply playing golf more than your arms can handle) can indeed lead to Tennis Elbow, despite the name! Similarly, you can develop Golfer’s Elbow from playing tennis or other racket sports.
After your self-tests for Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow, if you’re still unsure what’s causing your elbow pain, there are other conditions that may be the root cause, including Radial Tunnel Syndrome, Bursitis, and Arthritis (Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis).
If you aren’t sure about the cause of your elbow pain, the best thing to do is to consult a doctor or a physical therapist.
It’s Golfer’s Elbow.
Many similarities: Tennis Elbow and Golfer's Elbow share similar root cause (overuse), symptoms (pain in the forearm near your elbow and loss of grip strength), and treatment methodology.
Pain locations: the biggest difference between the two is where you feel the pain. With Tennis Elbow, it's on the outside of the elbow, while Golfer's Elbow pain is felt on the inside of the elbow - where the injured tendons are located.
Nuances of treatments: physical therapy is the gold standard of treatment for both conditions. The specifics of your treatment will differ to target the affected tendon, but the methodology is the same, involving bracing, massages, and progressive strengthening exercises.
Luke Ferdinands, Physical Therapist & Co-Founder
A New Zealand-trained physical therapist with over 20 years of experience, Luke developed the Alleviate Method to bring the gold standard of physical therapy care to everyone's home. Luke leads the development of physical tools and digital physical therapy content, focusing on driving clinical outcomes for people with chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions like Tennis Elbow, Plantar Fasciitis, Runner's Knee, and more.
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